Jammie Booker was disqualified from the global female strength competition
A British athlete honored as the planet's most powerful female claims she was deprived of her winning moment after it emerged the initial winner was a trans female who was not qualified to compete.
The British strongwoman was granted the title after the fact after American athlete the disqualified contestant was disqualified.
Thompson told sports media the competition, held in the Texas city of Arlington, was clouded by an individual who wasn't eligible to participate.
"I was very disappointed and angry with her actions," she stated. "She was untruthful and was very dishonest, and took away a lot of things from a lot of women.
"The competitor that came 11th was denied the opportunity to do the final day... to have the top 10 status in the world."
Event coordinators, the competition body, said "participants could only participate in the category for their biological sex registered at birth", and that they had eliminated the athlete in dispute "who was biologically male."
Event Details
Documentation show the disqualified athlete participated in at least several additional strongwoman competitions this season - winning the Washington competition in June and finishing second at North America's Strongest Woman in mid-summer.
Journalists could not reach Booker and event officials confirmed "efforts had been made to contact the competitor... but a reply had not been received."
Thompson had originally finished second to the US competitor
Thompson, forty-three, eventually was declared the global female strength champion for the second occasion, having earlier claimed the championship in 2018.
But it was only after this season's event finished that she learned her rival had been ineligible to compete.
"There existed nothing at all during the competition - nobody had any reason to suspect any issues," said the mother of two from East Anglia.
"It was about several hours after that the first rumours started going round, and then the officials contacted me.
"It's a significant achievement that's been marred by some dishonesty."
Event Particulars
Strength contests have no single regulatory authority, rather, independent groups run a range of competitions.
The Global Female Strength championship is awarded at the Official Strongman Games, organized by a British company.
Over 400 athletes from nearly forty nations participated in this season's event, which organisers describe as "one of the pinnacles of the strength world."
The Games featured events across multiple sex, weight and age classifications.
The British athlete and the American competitor were in the Female Open category and participated in six disciplines over multiple days, including the overhead press, frame carrying and deadlift ladder.
Regulations and Qualifications
A statement from the organization stated: "Athletes are assigned to men's or female divisions based on whether they are recorded as male or female at birth.
"It appears that an athlete who is male by birth and who now identifies as a woman participated in the Female Open category... organizers were not informed of this fact ahead of the competition."
In 2023, Texas enacted a law prohibiting "biological men from participating with female athletes", although this only applies to higher education athletics in the state.
Thompson thinks female strength competitions may introduce sex screening in the coming years.
"I guess it's going to have to go down that route... but our discipline is still quite new. There's insufficient money in it to have these things in place. We depend on the honesty of the competitors."
Wider Sports Landscape
In recent years, a growing quantity of sports federations have barred competitors who have gone through male puberty from competing in top-level women's events, amid apprehensions over fairness and protection, including global aquatics and athletics bodies.
In May, major British sports bodies were among a number of institutions to implement similar policies, after the Britain's highest court's decision that the official classification of a woman is based on birth sex.
The decisions have been challenged by trans rights campaigners, who contend they could violate individual freedoms and maintain participation should be prioritised.
Both international athletics and pugilism organizations introduced genetic sex screening this year, asserting it is necessary to protect the fairness of women's competition.
A representative from international athletics has stated that between 50 and 60 competitors who experienced puberty as males have been finalists in the female category in global and continental track and field championships since the year two thousand.
